1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to toilets, and more particularly relates to a combination feature-rich tankless toilet and bidet system with a bowl ventilation apparatus.
2. Related Art
Conventional toilets include a porcelain body defining a bowl and a toilet flushing mechanism. Known flushing mechanisms comprise a water tank reservoir mounted on a rear portion of the toilet in fluid communication with a water supply pipe, e.g., city water service or the like, and the bowl. This is the typical flushing mechanism found in home toilets. Other known flushing mechanisms comprise a valve directly in communication with the water supply. This is the typical flushing mechanism found in commercial toilets.
The water tank reservoir is to supply sufficient water under enough pressure to cleanse the debris, from the bowl. To accomplish this, a siphon effect is utilized. This requires a sufficient volume water running into the bowl with sufficient velocity to activate the siphon. As a result, normal house water pipe water pressure, without more, will not activate the siphon. Essentially, the tank acts as a capacitor, holding one to several gallons of water, which it takes perhaps 30 to 60 seconds to accumulate for storage until the next flush. Activation of the flushing mechanism results in all of the water in the tank rapidly pouring into the bowl.
Typical flushing activation methods include a manual lever connected to a chain that lifts a flush valve to uncover a siphon hole in the tank floor. Once the tank has emptied, the flush valve reengages the siphon hole, covering it so the tank can be refilled. During refill, some of the water goes down a refill tube and starts refilling the tank. The rest goes through the bowl refill tube, and down the overflow tube into the bowl. This refills the bowl slowly. As the water level in the tank rises, so does a float device. Eventually the float rises far enough to turn a valve off, shutting the refill water off, indicating the water storage tank is full and ready for another flush. As discussed above, during the refill time a proper flush is not possible, a waiting period is required.
The bidet is well known and is used for hand-free cleansing of the perineal and genital areas, either as a stand-alone device or in combination with the toilets described above. Generally, a conventional bidet is adapted to spray water from a nozzle. Stand-alone bidets take up much needed bathroom space. Toilet-bidet combinations require water in the water tank reservoir as described above, thus requiring space in the bathroom environment. Moreover, such toilet-bidet combinations may not have sufficient water reserves to provide satisfactory cleansing at certain periods of time, e.g., during a flush or during the tank refill period following a flush.
Bathroom fans are a primary method of removing odors in a bathroom environment arising from toilet usage. Typically, these fans draw air nonspecifically from the bathroom environment and either recirculate the drawn air back into the bathroom, sometimes through a filter, or disperse the drawn air in alternative locations or environments. As these fans are usually in ceilings or high up on the wall, it can take a significant amount of time for odors to travel or be drawn from the toilet bowl region to the fan for removal. During this time, the user and subsequent users of the bathroom are exposed to these odors, which can be unpleasant.
Because bathroom fans can take a significant amount of time to replace, recirculate and/or cleanse the air in a bathroom environment, the user often is forced to open a window to augment odor removal. Although opening a window can help cleanse the air in a bathroom environment, the opening of a window exposes the bathroom to the external environment, subjecting the bathroom and the user to possible extremes in temperature and humidity, depending on the geographic location and the season. Further, additional resources such as electricity or natural gas may need to be expended to heat or cool the bathroom. Further complicating this situation, opening a window could result in dust and allergens entering into the bathroom environment, which can be harmful to some users and/or require the bathroom to be cleaned more often.
Often, bathroom fans are electrically connected to the light switch such that when the light switch is activated, the fan is activated. This can result in a waste of electricity for the times when the bathroom light is needed, but the fan is not needed. Alternatively, there may be a second switch for the fan alone. However, this requires the user to both remember that there is a second switch to activate the fan, and to actually activate the switch.
A bowl ventilation apparatus is a more efficient alternative to the conventional bathroom fan. A ventilation apparatus may be mounted on or incorporated within the structure of a toilet bowl for the specific removal of odors therein. A proximity sensor may be incorporated into, or proximal, the ventilation apparatus to allow activation upon detection of a person approaching or occupying the toilet. Such an apparatus is described by the inventor of the present invention in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,550,072 and 6,678,900, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated in their entirety.
Thus, a tankless toilet having immediate reflush capability, without a waiting period is needed. Similarly, a tankless toilet and bidet combination having both immediate reflush capability as well as on-demand water cleansing spray availability before, during and alter a flush is needed. A tankless toilet and a toilet and bidet combination are also needed to save valuable bathroom space and allow installation in small areas. The addition of a bowl ventilation apparatus is needed to maximize efficiency. The present invention is directed to these needs.